


Lofi Love

by Cloui



Category: Mass Effect - All Media Types, Mass Effect: Andromeda
Genre: Comfort, Established Relationship, F/M, Fluff, Insomnia, Kinda, Late Night Conversations, Little Brother Sam, Lofi, Long-Distance Relationship, Radio, but minus the hurt, potential booty call, stressed out Ryder, supportive but tipsy Reyes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-12
Updated: 2017-07-12
Packaged: 2018-12-01 04:01:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,367
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11478198
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cloui/pseuds/Cloui
Summary: Someone set up a radio station. Not like the announcement ones that are constantly playing in the Nexus. An actual music radio station, broadcasted throughout Heleus. Concerns were raised initially about how sending out a signal is also revealing their location. People argued back that by now, everyone knew where they were and so it didn’t matter anymore. Plus, the Angarans were completely fascinated by Milky Way music and it kick started the cultural exchange on a more personal level. After enough insistence from the people, the ambassadors, and some highly stressed out officials, the radio stayed.





	Lofi Love

**Author's Note:**

> Sweet little thing I wrote during a kick ass storm. Just Ryder and Reyes being in love and all mushy with each other. Sometimes you just need a little bit of squish.

Someone set up a radio station. Not like the announcement ones that are constantly playing in the Nexus. An actual music radio station, broadcasted throughout Heleus. Concerns were raised initially about how sending out a signal is also revealing their location. People argued back that by now, everyone knew where they were and so it didn’t matter anymore. Plus, the Angara were completely fascinated by Milky Way music and it kick started the cultural exchange on a more personal level. After enough insistence from the people, the ambassadors, and some highly stressed out officials, the radio stayed. 

The music varied depending on the time of day. The tempo of the songs always spiked around rush hours and mellowed out in between. Friday night saw more danceable beats while Sunday evenings had jazzy numbers. People would send in requests and it was considered a good luck charm if your song was picked. 

Ryder’s favorite time to tune in was at 0200 to 0400 space time. Everyone in the Tempest was asleep, except for Gil who was sleep-writing poetry in the engine room while keeping their baby afloat. She would lie on the floor in her quarters, staring up at a projected map of the Milky Way, and just let herself float away to rhythmic beats.

SAM called it meditation. Ryder called it escaping. SAM got confused on how someone would escape if they never moved an inch and weren’t even trapped. Ryder dropped the subject. If she listened closely in the silence that followed, she could feel the AI’s humming increase and decrease in frequency as if he was attempting to breathe deeply. A ghost of a smile appeared on her face when she heard the soft noise. 

Ryder had been lying on the floor for roughly an hour and forty-five minutes when a ping went off in her mind, interrupting the music. Her eyes snapped open as SAM made a tone that sounded suspiciously like the AI’s version of an annoyed groan.

“It appears Mr. Vidal wishes to speak to you, Pathfinder. It doesn’t appear urgent and by the amount of errors in his message, he is mildly intoxicated,” SAM informed her in a perfectly polite manner that promised perfectly impolite thoughts. 

Ryder sat up with her legs still stretched out and her hair falling into her eyes. 

“Can you patch him through to my omni-tool, SAM? I don’t want to make my way up to the meeting room.”

“Yes, Pathfinder. One moment.”

The orange screen wrapped around her wrist blipped into life, along with the familiar face of a third-rate smuggler and the reigning King of Kadara as he appeared to be sprawled across his “throne” in Tartarus, wasted. 

“Good morning, my heart. Or is it evening? Afternoon?” Reyes slurred. He looked to the side of the screen, “Wow. Why are you still up? It’s such an inhumane hour up there.”

Ryder smiled at her lover. Her omni-tool couldn’t capture the gold of his eyes, or the flush in his cheeks from the drink, but it could capture Reyes’ easy grin and the crinkles at the corner of his eyes. It wasn’t as perfect as being there with him but it was good enough. 

“Hello love. I’ve been keeping SAM company as he figures out how to meditate. He’s been mimicking the breathing exercises Lexi has us do during yoga. It’s really sweet, I should send you a recording sometime,” Ryder joked, ignoring the slight huff of denial and embarrassment from somewhere on the left side of her brain. 

“Mmm, I’d think I’ll prefer a recording of you doing the yoga more, but I wouldn’t complain about anything you give me,” Reyes winked, his voice dropping to a husky octave that he uses whenever he’s flirting, both seriously and playfully. Ryder laughed at the awful line and Reyes grinned along with her. As she caught her breath, Reyes shifted on his couch, his eyes focusing in on her. 

“Is it the nightmares again?”

Ryder took a long time in answering. He waited.

“No. I mean probably, but I haven’t been in bed yet so I wouldn’t know. It’s just,” Ryder said all in a rush before pausing, struggling to find the words. She noticed that Reyes stayed quiet and intent on her, and she think she fell a little more in love. “I feel pent up. Like there’s some static energy building up in my bones, or in my muscles, or I don’t know. It’s just building up and I can’t get it out. I tried releasing it using biotics but that didn’t do anything, neither did combat exercises. There’s energy in my legs and it’s restless and I feel like they’re about to vibrate right off my body but they’re not and I can’t get them to stop. I need to do something, but everything that needs to get down isn’t the right thing.”

Reyes waited while Ryder caught her breath. It took a while. 

“Has SAM tried to help?” He asked softly when she was done. 

Ryder shook her head. “He offered but I want to do this on my own.”

“Are you listening to the radio right now?”

“Yeah. It doesn’t fix it but it makes it bearable. Apparently, the genre is lo-fi hip hop, some old Earth music that someone smuggled across deep space. Enough about me, why did you call? Because if this is some kind of booty call, I’m too tired right now.”

Reyes gasped in indignation, the seriousness seeping away. “Excuse you, I should have you know that if I want to make love to you over the video channels, it will be much classier than this. I am, after all, a gentleman.”

Ryder laughed. 

“What? You don’t believe me! The disrespect!” 

“Babe, our first couple of dates included a storage room, a cave, a bar, and then the promise of a storage room, not an actual location. Your track record suggests otherwise,” Ryder smiled lazily. The two of them haven’t had the most romantic meetings to start but here they both were, years later. 

“In my defense, my original plan was significantly better than that storage room, the cave was due to adrenaline, the music was totally romantic,” protested Reyes. His voice dropped a bit when he continued. “And I was completely serious about the storage room. You were the one who didn’t take me up on it,” 

It took a second for Ryder to respond. It’s been seven months since the Tempest last landed in Kadara and she’s felt every second. She’ll have to fabricate some excuse to get back there, support with some minor concern someone brought her and haggle Tann down for a couple days of shore leave. Hell, maybe a week or two if she’s lucky, it has been awhile.

Ryder tossed around the idea of replying to Reyes in an equally sultry tone. She’s already taken off her sweatpants before he called, and removing the rest of her clothing wouldn’t be that much harder. But the ache in her bones reminded her that she was about three minutes away from passing out and no amount of dirty talk will change that. 

“Mmm, guess I owe you then. One romantic evening involving an actual bed, maybe a dinner if we get lucky.”

“Can that be cashed in tonight?”

“Sorry, love. I just got back from running away from Remnant because of some ancient Angaran relic and dealing with the Roekaar. Later. Promise,” Ryder winked. Reyes barked out a laugh of the imitation of him.

“I’ll have to sue you for plagiarism if you keep stealing my moments, my heart. Sweet dreams.”

“Good night, my love. I miss you.”

“I miss you too. Visit me soon.”

The vidcall blinked out and Ryder was left alone in her quarters, the only light coming from the soft glow of billions of stars outside her window. 

The radio started up again. The mellow beats matched with the thrum of the engine and the beat of her heart. The quiet symphony eventually lulled her to sleep, sinking against her carpeted floor. It left her dreaming of warm skin, slow dancing and floating in pools beneath a lilac sky. Weightless.


End file.
